France rolled out the red carpet for the Olympic flag on Monday, with the host of the 2024 Summer Games promising to make the sporting spectacle open to the masses after a pandemic-hit Tokyo Games held behind closed doors.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo waved the flag which she was handed in Tokyo during the handover ceremony as she stepped out of the aircraft bringing home some of the country's last athletes.
The 2024 Games would be "something very positive for our country. They come at a good moment," Hidalgo told reporters.